Prior art vehicles include systems that translate driver intent into vehicle action. Such systems include steering systems, braking systems, and throttle control systems. The characteristics of these prior art systems, such as steering ratio, steering effort, braking response, and braking effort, are not feasibly or easily modifiable after manufacture, a result, in part, of the mechanical nature of the systems. Prior art mechanical suspension systems, critical to the ride and handling of a vehicle, are similarly not feasibly or easily modifiable after manufacture. Thus, a vehicle is limited in how the vehicle rides, responds, and handles. Often, vehicle users possess more than one vehicle in order to experience different vehicle characteristics. For example, a vehicle user may have a sports car for recreational driving and a luxury vehicle for comfort while commuting.
A prior art vehicle manufacturer must use different system configurations, or systems with differing mechanical components, to produce vehicles having differing system characteristics. Thus, to produce vehicles having differing system characteristics, vehicle manufacturers use a complex scheduling system during the manufacture and assembly of vehicles. For example, if a vehicle model is available with more than one suspension system so that consumers may choose between a “sport” suspension and a “comfort” suspension, a logistical system must be implemented and carried out by material handlers and assemblers at a production plant to ensure that each vehicle receives its corresponding suspension system. Such scheduling increases logistical complexity and the possibility of error. Furthermore, economies of scale are not optimized because multiple systems are required to provide consumer choice.
Further, consumers may have to expend time and other resources to locate a retailer that has a vehicle with the ride, response and handling they seek, since retailers have limited inventory space with which to store vehicles having differing system characteristics.